The Damned World
by ChronoShadow
Summary: The Digidestined failed. The littlest change in the history of things results in the tragic loss against their first major adversary, and the Real World is overtaken. What happens when a scattered handful of newcommers try to do what Destined could not..
1. Chapter 1

Alright, finally uploading the start of my own tale based on Digimon Adventure 01. Set in the Real World after the League of Dark Masters has come through, this is what would happen if the Digidestined had failed in their final encounter with Devimon. No more Prophesies, and no gaurentee they'll all come through in the end, a new group, and some old faces (eventually) take on the forces thrust upon them.

Based on a concept provided by RedRover, and expanded on with the help of several friends. I hope you enjoy the story as it unfolds. Let me know what you think! Keep in mind the first two chapters were mostly written years ago, and the story has been picked up and will be comming out as I write it, soo... Wish me luck on continuing motivation!

_**The Damned World**_

**Chapter 01: Encounter**

Even when the world falls apart, things have a way of settling into a day to day grind. Jake sighed as he let the melancholy thought roll through his head a moment, before dismissing it in favor of the much simpler, "I hate hardware duty..."

Living in The Hole meant contributing. Searching for food was left to people who knew how to cook, and Jake wasn't intimidating enough to be put on guard duty, so he was sent out to do the odd bit of 'fetch scavving' that was needed at any given time. Things like hand tools, nails, and camping supplies were useful in making the abandoned bank they had taken shelter in more habitable. Which was all fine well and good, but a sack full of such supplies tended to be two things... Noisy and heavy.

Heavy was bad enough, but having to be extra careful not to jostle the bags and call attention to himself made everything take longer. Still, he was fairly glad they could dig through things as easily as they did... He heard some cities were crawling with monsters. Or heaps of rubble. His own little town was hardly spared, but it was far better off thanks to the fact that only a small group of digimon had chosen to stick around.

Which made it all the more surprising when he heard a yelp come from the opened back door of the abandoned department store. He froze at first, the canvas bag hovering inches off the floor. The next pointedly effeminate shriek was enough to make him drop it, gently, and move towards the back of the store, stepping softly and moving his hand to his belt.

Wrapping his fingers around the brown leather holster at his hip, he quietly thumbed the button free as he glanced around the corner. They had long since learned that guns were every bit as effective as throwing rocks. However, if you could get close enough, hitting them with something seemed to work just as well as it did on people. As long as they weren't much stronger than an average Champion level. Thus many had taken to carrying around a baseball bat, a knife, or even just a stick or weight. Anything you could hold in your hand seemed to work just fine. Jake however had come across a nice little toy belonging to one of his former neighbors. The guy had a rather large stock of guns that had proven quite useless, but after he was taken, Jake did manage to find a two foot long retractable steel baton and sheath in his home, along with the supplies that got him through those first few tough months.

He felt its reassuring weight in the palm of his hand as he slowly crept across the smooth blacktop behind the store. Approaching a simicircle of three digimon with their backs to him, he could see they had someone cornered against the side of a dumpster and the building. Another yelp of pain issued forth, and now he could make out their taunts. "-ght you could just get away from him?" "No way it'd be that easy!" "-ill wish he'd found you first." "I say we have some fun before she goes back where she belongs..."

His blood boiled as he listened and made his slow approach. It was two Gazimon, rather common digimon who looked like a cross between a thug and a rabbit, and a Veggimon. That one would be a problem. The bunnies were rookie level, which apparently ment they were essentially child strength digimon. Children with electric firepower. Veggimon however was a Champion, more than a match for any full grown adult, and armed with spiked clubs on the end of his spindly arms, that packed a mildly toxic punch.

Jake still couldn't see the girl, but he could see that things were not going to get any better for her unless someone did something... He was almost close enough now, and his breath came shallow and silent as he clutched the still retracted baton in his fist. He thumbed the release switch, barely letting it contain the tightly coiled spring. Taking one step closer, he trembled with anticipation. He knew he couldn't fight them all. Hell, he probably couldn't fight the Veggimon alone, but if he could just stun them long enough for him and the girl to get away...

He froze suddenly as one Gazimon lurched to the side after kicking out at the figure huddled in the corner. In that instant, he saw the girl they were apparently tormenting. And he knew that no girl he'd ever met was quite that blue. He hesitated as he heard her grunt once more at the kick, her eyes squeezed shut parting slightly to look past the little nose horn, spotting briefly the still figure behind her tormentors. Then a burst of electricity elicited a shriek as the eyes slid closed and she curled tighter into a ball.

Jake knew that most people would have left the digimon to her fate. He knew that was probably what he should do. But the sadness in the poor things eyes was all it took to convince him that nothing had changed. His knuckles were white as he jammed the release button. His hand came down with a high 'ShhhhhHICT' as the tip of the baton raced to the end of its length, carrying extra weight and momentum into the hard sideways swing that crashed into Gazimon's partially turned face. He barely had time to turn his muzzle right into the imact, to barely register suprise on his face before it caved around the hard shaft. His head and shoulders rocked back from the blow, the rookie hitting the ground on his back and sliding several inches as bright red splashes contrasted steely grey fur.

Jake felt the rush of adrenalin as he turned to whip the rod out towards the middle, hoping to catch the others just as off gaurd. Veggimon was surprisingly quick though, and ducked underneath the lunge, leaving the other Gazimon to swear as his arm came up to block the blow, only realizing that this also wasn't the best idea. The shaft reverberated painfully in his hand as it crashed into the rookies forearm, though the yelp and immediate whimper from its first and second victim showed it had done its job.

However, as he should have known, his luck could not hold out for long. Before he could so much as think about recovering, his body bent in half around the powerful punch, Veggimon having been quick to retaliate after the near miss. The spines turned out to be too blunt to do more than scratch Jake through his shirt, but the wind rushing out of him was more than enough to drop the boy to his knees.

Jake was left trying to pull air into his lungs for several seconds as he barely hung onto the steel baton, his eyes wide as Veggimon laughed. Ignoring his partners whimpers of pain, he instead reached out, coiling his tentacle-like arm around the boys neck and suddenly lifting him up by his head so that he was forced to kneel even as he gasped for air.

"You've got guts kid, but not alot of brains if you're gonna take a swing at me!" he taunted cockily as his other 'fist' came up to swat the baton from Jake's hand. It clattered uselessly across the pavement behind him as Jake's vision blurred. His lungs were just begining to obey him once again, and now he gasped through the tight grip around his neck, fingers scrambling for purchase to pull the powerful tendril away. The green champion just smirked as he tightened his grip on the gasping boy, watching his vision go cloudy, "Lord Myotismon only asked for the girl, but I'm sure he'll be happy to have a whipping boy to go along w-AAAH!"

His eyes had gone wide in shock as he lunged forward, his grip lost in an instant as he collapsed on top of Jake. He sucked in air eagerly as he fell back, quickly bringing his knee up into the green plant and pushing him hard off to the side. It took him a moment to see that what had hit him from behind had been none other than the little Blue's forehead. She stood behind the fallen Veggimon and panted as she trembled, "I'm Not going Back! Vee Headbutt!" she shouted and exploded through the air to smash her head once more into the Veggimon, this time catching him in the head and knocking him senseless as she rolled off and tumbled past, lying on the ground in a heap.

Jake saw this all with a mixture of confusion and awe. Partially at the fact that she could still stand after being that beaten, and partially at the fact that he'd just been saved by a Digimon. Later he'd reflect that she probably had the same thought when he had jumped into the fight in the first place, but for now his mind went to the fact that Veggimon woulden't be down for long, and the second Gazimon was already stalking towards them.

Scrambling to all fours, he kicked out hard and managed to catch the slow moving Gazimon in the same arm he was already nursing, the digimon screaming in pain and stumbling back as Jake ran over to the blue digimon on the ground. Seeing she was barely conscious, he quickly scooped up his fallen baton and then lifted her limp form into his arms. Bolting for the door, he glanced back to see Veggimon slowly starting to recover.

Thinking quickly, he kicked the stopper out from the open back door of the building, the metal door slamming shut and buying them time since it lacked any way to open from the outside. He quickly set the digimon he'd rescued (a thought that still baffled him) against the wall and ran to the front of the stoor, scooping up a few items and hurridly sticking his head out into the street. "God I hope they haven't watched any movies lately." he mumbled, taking a wrench and chucking it hard towards the store across the street. The glass storefront shattered and the sound of the wrench continuing in the store was hopefully enough...

Sure enough, the Gazimon with the busted arm was soon seen trailing after Veggimon as they came from around the side of the building and charged across the street with hardly a glance towards the darkened hardware storefront. Jake was safely out of sight as they dissapeared into the store. He gathered his things and was nearly ready to go as he glanced up to see the Gazimon he had hit first limping slowly after the first pair, holding his bloodied muzzle and stumbling badly. Jake blinked and squinted at the creature as it crossed the road. At first he thought his own vision was blurring, but then he realized that it really _was_ the Gazimon. He almost felt sorry for him as he realized that his form was breaking up around the edges, and that he'd probably be 'deleted' soon. He felt a moment of sympathy for the creature, despite what it had done to his little blue companion.

He wasn't surprised to find her sleeping, however he fairly shocked to find that she had managed to shrink while he was leading the others off. In place of the rookie fighter with the V on her head, was a smaller version with nubs for arms no real markings or nose horn. "That's... Different." he muttered, before quickly deciding on what to do. Grabbing a blanket that he had planned to wrap more tools in, he set it inside his bag and quickly set her on top of it before closing the flap over her, "Travel sized, how convenient." he muttered as he slipped once more out the back door, closing it silently behind him.

With one final glance back at the store as he made his way through the town, he shook his head and adjusted the straps over his shoulder. Thinking of just how much trouble he'd managed to get himself into, or at least started on today, he could only shake his head and mumble, "And so it begins..."


	2. Chapter 2

The first half of Chapter 02, up through part of the conversation in the room, was written at the same time as the first Chapter... from here on out though, I have no excuses as to why something might be messed up. So feel free to let me know what you think!

**Chapter 2: Insight**

Jake fidgeted a bit with the strap over one shoulder as he stopped at the corner. Looking past to the empty street, he saw his home of the last few months. The Hole. He knew his bunk mate, Jason would be on gaurd around this time of afternoon, just inside the doors of the old bank. He also knew without a doubt that if the little blue and white creature sleeping in his bag were discovered, his friend would still put him out on his butt in a second. IF he was lucky.

'So why...' he wondered yet again, 'am I even _doing_ this? I don't owe her any more than she owes me. If I were smart, she'd be on her own and I could go on patting myself on the back for being a big damn hero. Instead, I'm sneaking her in like some kind of stray pet!' The whole thing was absurd. Still, he knew he could no more abandon the little creature in this state than he could any of those people in that building. She just needed rest, safety, and a bit of food. It wasn't in him to deny her at least that much.

And so he sighed and hefted the bag into a better position on his shoulder, eliciting a grumble from its hidden occupant. He tossed a quick shush over his shoulder and stepped from around the corner, lightly jogging across the street and into the archway just before the boarded up glass doorway. Plyboard replaced old window panes, and planks seemingly held the doors shut, but a simple pull on them revealed that only one door had planks nailed into it, and that the other had them cross over unattached, giving the illusion of a barricade.

Once inside the dim lobby, he heard the familiar click of a semi-automatic weapon being raised, "Its alright, its me, Jake." he muttered softly as the door settled shut behind him. Jason grinned and put the safety back on as he re pocketed the gun. Such weapons were completely ineffective against even the weakest digimon for some reason, but they still did a fine job keeping more human troubles at bay.

"As if I didn't already know." Jason joked, reaching past Jake and turning the key in the lock of the door, effectively making the false barricade real for the rest of the night, "You're the last one in for the night, what took you soo long?" he asked as he held out a hand to take the heavy bag off of Jake's shoulder for him.

The boy flinched slightly, before covering it with a grin and a shake of his head, "Aww, worried about me?" he joked casually. "I had a little run-in with a trio around the hardware store. Had to lose them before I made my way back. Did I miss handout?" he asked, knowing he hadn't. They would be giving out food in just a little bit, and Jason told him as much as they bantered back and forth a moment longer. Finally, Jake excused himself, saying he needed to sort through what got broken in the run and what was usable, and what would take some work before it came time to eat.

There were only a couple dozen people holed up in the old bank, and most of them spent their time huddled together in groups in the Vault or Break Room. A few unbroken tables had been affixed with scavenged board games and several decks of cards to pass the time for those not busy working. The old, the children, and the injured. Jake had managed to split one of the offices between himself and Jason, and, with Jason on gaurd duty for the next few hours, Jake only had to close the door to finally get the privacy he needed to empty his pack.

However, as he set it down on the floor, hearing a tiny 'oohp!' to go along with the soft impact, he heard a knock behind him, quickly turning around and standing up straight as he stood between the bag and the door, hoping she had the sense to keep still and quiet.

Jessica blinked a bit as she stood in the doorway, her knuckles resting on the frame of the door, "Jeeze, someones jumpy." she said with a playful grin. "Worried the big bad digimon came home with you?" she asked teasingly. Jess was Jake's other main friend in the Hole. They were around the same age, and had become fast friends when he had brought her some cards to pass the time shortly after she had joined the little group.

Jake grinned and shook his head, "No, not really, but if you see a big green guy with thorns on his fists, tell him I'm not home." he joked, getting a little snicker out of her, "Speaking of visitors, what brings you to The Lair?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I still don't understand why you two get to split a whole office." she grumbled, having to share her room with alot of the younger kids hiding out here. He almost had the nerve to make a joke about her moving into his room, fidgeting with the idea a moment too long. She continued before he had the chance without it being akward, "Actually, I remembered you had lost your glasses last time you went out, so when someone brought these in, I snagged them for you." she said, holding out a pair of dark sunglasses with wide, curved lenses that conformed snugly to his head as he tried them on.

"Oh wow, these are better than my old pair... And probably won't break quite soo easy." he mused aloud as he flexed them and shifted them up his forhead to push back his hair, the little arms disappearing behind his ears.

Jessica giggled and shook her head as she saw this, pointing out "Looks almost like you're wearing a pair of swim goggles." Jake just rolled his eyes as she reached into the little sling bag hanging at her hip, "Anyways, I figured I'd also bring around the grub, since you'll probably be stuck in here awhile." she said, pulling out a little Tupperware container and handing it to him. Inside were some canned peaches, a pair of small, hard biscuits, and a little helping of peanut butter to go on them. "Don't make yourself sick on it, Y'hear?" she joked as she gave a little wave and turned, stepping out the door to let it swing closed once more, dark, wavy hair bouncing along behind her slightly.

Jake smiled to himself and opened the little container, "Mmmm, peaches... I hate peaches." he mused, before chuckling and turning around, only to jump a bit as he saw a sphere of glowing light at his knee level, which quickly settled into a little blue digimon sitting on top of the bag, looking up at him with her arms crossed, "Oooh, then lemme try them! I'll bet Peaches are great!" she said smugly as she reached up, plucking the bowl from his hands.

Jake blinked and tilted his head as he looked down at her, "Umm, excuse me but... What do you think you're doing?" She responded by plucking one of the peach halves out and popping it into her mouth with a grin, "Eading." She answered obviously.

"Give me that!" He reached out and grabbed the bowl, a small tug of war ensuing as she plucked two of the remaining three peach halves out and shoveled them in her mouth, "My peaches!" He glared down at her as he looked at the lone peach half left, lifting the bowl up as she clung to the edge with one paw, chewing rapidly through the fruit, her other paw blindly reaching over the edge and grasping through the sticky juices for the last one. "Nooo!" Jake grumbled and thrust his fingers into the wet fruit, snatching it out from under the blue paw and popping it his mouth, "HAH!"

The little vee just pouted as she looked up at him, Jake beaming with his victory as she swallowed hard to get down the fruit. "Awww, and here I thought you were a good guy!" she said, crossing her arms, before blinking and realizing what the sticky juices were doing ot her scales, "Gah!" She quickly popped two fingers into her muzzle and suckled them clean as she looked around, lips smacking as she cleaned one finger after the other, "Wow, so this is your home?" she asked, casually wandering past him as he stood wincing at the sickly sweetness of the fruit.

As she wandered, she dragged her now cleaned fingers over the various odds and ends strung about, some tools, a box with spare clothes, a travel pack, and eventually came to the door. Being an old bank, all the doors and half the walls had been glass when they got there. Some plywood covered most of the windows, but Jake jumped and dropped the Tupperware as she reached for the sleeping bag that hung over the doors glass, hissing sharply, "No!" as he nearly tackled the little blue digimon away from the door, "Do you have any idea what they'll do if they see you in here?"

The little one blinked in stunned shock as she looked up at him, paws on his chest resting a moment, "Er, no, but..." she shoved with suprising strength, pushing the teenager from practically smothering her to stumbling back on his feet, "If it means more humans tackling me, count me out." Scrunching her face up in mock disgust, she grinned and padded forward to scoop one of the dropped biscuits off of the floor, "Are you going to finish this?" she asked, before biting it in half with a grin and chewing openly.

Jake blinked, looking at the spilled peanut butter and groaning as he dropped his hands to his side, "This was a mistake... And why did you have to go and get so big? Now getting you back out is going to be impossible!" He snatched up the last biscuit and picked up the Tupperware, doing his best to drag it along the edge the peanut butter had been in to salvage some before biting into it.

The Vee tilted her head as she saw him doing this, casually taking her half of the biscut and scooping it through the top of the peanut butter on the floor, before popping it in her mouth, her eyes lighting up as she beamed, "Thish is great!" was followed by a finger running through it and popping into the little white muzzle as she made quick work of the biscut.

Jake just rolled his eyes and sat down on the little cot, taking off his heavy vest and laying it along beside him. Leaning forward, he pondered just what he was going to do with the little blue 'mon in his room. If the others knew he'd brought one of the monsters into the building, they'd _kill_ him! ...or her. Or both.

Veemon seemed oblivious of this, lost in a daze of peanut butter and grins, before she sat down on the floor and beamed up at him, "If you were soo worried about it, why did you bring me here in the first place?" she asked bluntly to his question from earlier. Now her eyes had stopped wandering and were focused on him, a little of the playfulness gone, seeming somewhat distrusting and on guard.

Jake blinked at this, his expression making it clear that he found the question completely ridiculous, "You were hurt." he said, as if that answered everything. When all he recived was a deadpan stare, he shrugged, "If I'd jumped in and helped, just to leave you there for the next guy to come finish off, then there woulden't have been much point helping you in the first place." he shrugged and sat back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Well, why did you help me in the first place?" She asked, genuine curiosity mixed with vague distrust, "I thought all humans hated digimon."

He just laughed and closed his eyes a moment, "Heh, I guess so I could be a hero," he admitted with a shrug, "Even if was to a digimon, it was still pretty awsome."

She just rolled her eyes and cut her gaze back across from him, "You're kind of a strange guy..."

He chuckled and shrugged. She diden't know the half of it. He had always been a little bit of a bookworm in school, his head lost in some kind of daydream or fantasy most of the time. This wasen't the first time he'd been called strange, odd, or wierd, and he tended to wear the phrase like a badge of honor. To hear the same words from a Digimon just made him grin, muttering to himself, "Guess we're not soo different after all."

The brilliant burst of light made both of them jump, Jake nearly falling off of his cot as his eyes snapped open and he bolted upright... or rather tried to. He ended up more 'flailing to one side' than 'up right'. The little blue rookie leapt back nearly a foot, back pressing to the door as her eyes were transfixed by the light. For a moment, neither of them knew what to think. There was nothing here to attack them so, what could...

By the time they started to compose themselves well enough to react, the light, which reached almost tangibly from a spot directly between them, seemed to recede, first slowly, then snapping back into place at its center, a bright, small device shining brightly as it hovered in the air. Jake, who had been stunned to silence up until this point, realized suddenly just how much attention the light would grab if someone saw it between the cracks in the window covers. He dove forward without thinking to grab the device and cover it up before someone came to find out what was going on.

At the same moment, Veemon's eyes went wide as she realized just what was happening. She felt a warm tingle inside, and a rush, as if something inside her had just clicked into place. She dove for the device as well, "J-jake, NO!" she tried to shout, even though it was probably too late. Neither one of them would realize until later that he'd never actually told her his name up to this point.

Just as his fingers wrapped around the device, several things happened very rapidly, if not at once. Most noticeably, the light vanished the second he touched the device, much to his relife. Hindsight told him that anything that bright should have burned his hand pretty badly, but he was quite greatful that wasen't the case. Secondly, and almost equally noticable, was the little blue rookie colliding with his chest and knocking him straight back the way he'd come. So while he hurtled back towards his cot, the air in his lungs remained right where it was, leaving him gasping for some to replace it the moment he stopped. His fingers were still clenched around the device, and he and the rookie were sprawled across the thin mat.

Third, and possibly most importantly to their immediate future, the device beeped. It was soft, to their ears, and was probably lost in the tackle that had been an attempte at stopping that little beep, but its effect was profound. Soon the little ping that had gone along with the devices beep was picked up by a handful of others. One such 'other' mearly catalogued the event and stored it in a growing database of such events. Another of whom immediatly changed the direction he was traveling, like a hound catching a scent on a breeze. And finally the last of which woke with a start. All of these events were quite unknown to the two in the little bank office at the time, but their effects would, sooner or later, be felt rather profoundly.


	3. Chapter 3

Wow, and people think Valve-time is bad. Oookay, so I've been away from awhile, forgot I HAD an account here even. Still, finding out there are still some old-school Digimon fans out there brought me back and reminded me that I never posted the other chapters I did in this series.

To those whom I told I'd see about writing again, don't get TOO excited. Like I said, these were written sometime a year or two ago before I lost steam again, so I'm kind of cheating a bit. But hey, more story, right? Everyone wins!

Please forgive me for spelling/grammar errors in this, I'm literally copy/pasting from a post done in a burst of momentum, so... yeah.

I own several Digimon at current, and keep them all i... Wait, no... that still hasn't changed. *sigh*

* * *

Chapter 03: Chaos

The next few moments of Jake's life were hardly any less confusing, and probably equally life changing. The Vee on top of him let out a low wail as Jake tried to catch his breath, hearing her as she sprung up and started to panic, "Nooo! Why did.. I diden't even Do anything! This is your fault!" she glared accusingly at Jake, before her eyes opened in wide concern as her mood shifted again, "We've got to get out of here! They'll delete us both if they find us!" She immediatly headed for the door, reaching up for the handle and pulling it. Jake had just recovered enough to dive after the little blue digimon, but not quite enough to catch her as she ran out into the hallway, "Come on, there's no time!" she called after him.

Jake's eyes were the size of saucers at this point, realizing just what she had done far more than she had. He was panicing now for completely different reasons than the digimon causing it. She'd left the room! What was she thinking?! If someone saw her... He diden't have time to think beyond grabbing his vest and diving out the door, lunging forward as the Veemon got only a few steps, tackling her to the floor and wrapping the little blue dragon-esque digimon in the bundle of cloth and pockets. "What do you think you're doing?!" he hissed as he lay holding the squirming, panicing bundle to the floor.

The soft thump of a tupperware container a few feet from his head brought his gaze slowly up, even as the Veemon's head popped out of the cover. Indignant, she opened her mouth to complain, but about that time her gaze caught up with his, both of them looking up into the shocked expression of the older woman in the hallway. She wasen't someone Jake recognized, and she certainly wasen't anyone the Veemon had ever seen, but both of them immediatly recognized the sharp intake of breath as she prepared to scream.

One day, looking back, they'd realize the attack coulden't have been better timed. The lights flickered and died overhead as the woman's anticipated scream turned into a short yelp as she lost her balance and fell. She might have tried to pick up where she left off, but a second impact against the side of the building opened a rather large hole in a wall at the far end of the corridor, near the lobby as a dark grey horn turned the wall into rubble. A second later they heard a very familiar mocking laugh from just ouside the newly formed exit, "More humans! They're bigger weeds than I am!" he cried with another burst of idiodic laughter.

Jake and Veemon exchanged a glance as they heard the Veggimon from the ally. Both of them scrambled to their feet and were running down the hall, Jake throwing the vest on as he ran, snapping his baton out and rounding one of the thin cubicle walls, he and the little blue ready for a fight. Ahead of him he could see the broken morter and glass just past the edge of the hallway, dust swirling in the soft light comming from overhead. As he and his new little friend raced ahead, they watched a large chunk of brick clatter across their path and crack upon the wall.

He rounded the corner, stopping dead and clutching his baton tightly as he saw not only their annoying green 'friend' from before, but the massive black and grey beast he was riding on. The thing looked like some kind of cross between a four legged dinosaur, and a rhino, the later resemblance mostly punctuated by the large, blade like horn protruding at a sharp angle from his nose. His hide looked like thick, layered leather or rock, and judging by the fact that he diden't have a scratch on it after bursting through a bank wall, it was probably a great deal too tough for his little rod or his blue friends head to put a dent in. A fact Veggimon was probably counting on.

The creature growled and bucked its head ferally as he further smashed the edges of their hastily made entrance. Jake could feel the vibration of the grating stone through the bottoms of his feet. Before he could work up the nerve to launch himself at the creature, some small movement caught the corner of his eye. Glancing quickly to the side, he stopped, his grasp on the baton in one hand and digivice in the other going slack.

Lying on the other side of the hole was Jessica, a broken office desk laying across her legs as she did her best to stay out of sight behind it. He could see her shuddering as she looked at the blood around one of her pinned legs as she tried to do her best to keep silent, biting down hard on her bottom lip. Something he did must have caught her eye as well, because she looked up around the desk, eyes watery as they locked on him in what started as a silent plea for help, and ended as a wide eyed stare of shock as she saw the little blue creature standing at his side. Comprehension dawned on her as she realized just why The Hole had been attacked. Why she has been hurt...

About that time he heard something heavy hit the floor beside him, turning and seeing a grim faced Jason having dropped the weapon he'd used to gaurd their home with, despite its ineffectiveness against Digital threats. His friend looked at him, and at the digimon, who paused, looking lost as she stood surrounded by humans and digimon out to get her. Hesitantly, she backed up towards Jake as she looked at the growing anger on the other human's face. Jason clenched his fists and lowered his gaze to the little blue digimon one more time, before raising them at last to Jake. He spoke through clenched teeth, in a hushed tone filled with quivering fury, "Get. Out. Now."

His heart sank as he heard this, his expression dropping as he opened his mouth, before the smug laughter a dozen paces away stopped. "There you are! Not getting away this time boys and girls! Crush them!" the Veggimon ordered as Monochromon's head swang to focus on the pair, lowering that deadly bladed horn and letting out a low roar as it began to charge.

Jake was stunned at the chaos of it all, almost too much to move, hesitating a bare moment too long as he realized he was trapped in the hallway with no chance of outrunning the rampaging digimon. He felt panic rise in his chest, stumbling back a half step as he realized that it was all going to end.

Fortunatly for him, he was wrong, and not for the first or last time. As the beast charged, Veggimon cackling victoriously atop him, he diden't even notice the other human dash forward. Jason tackled the beast easily two, maybe three times his size, ramming his shoulder into his stony hide. The beast bellowed as he was hit full force in the ribs, his momentum and stride sending him far off balance, crashing into the wall to Jake's left as he fell and fell hard. The champion riding atop him let out a shocked yelp as he flew tumbling into the wall beside his steed, both of them stunned for a brief moment.

Now, while it diden't take anyone long after the invasion to learn that guns, bombs, missiles, and in fact, most weapons, did next to nothing to even the most average of digimon, it diden't take a whole LOT longer to find that fighting them hand to hand, as insane as it was, was at least mildly effective. No one was quite sure why, but, at least against the rookies and even champions, a fist or tackle was a hundred times more effective than the weapon lying on the floor. Jason however, did pay for the effectiveness of his little charge, his shoulder throbbing as it felt like he'd just rammed into a rock wrapped in leather. Glaring even more as he recovered, clutching one arm as it dangled at his side he glared at Jake, who was already opening his mouth to thank him, "OUT, NOW!"

Jake flinched at the words, hurt but understanding as he hesitated only a second longer. Monochromon slowly shifting as it slowly regained some of its senses however prompted him as he reached down, grabbing Veemon's hand and dashing for the hole in the wall. The confused little Vee glanced up at Jake, then back at the human who had saved both of them from being crushed. Without hesitating, she cupped her free hand to her mouth and yelled, "Thank you!" before turning to dash out into the streets.

Once outside, Jake faltered, looking around and wondering which way he should go, turning to dart one way, before pausing as he felt the little blue hand in his stop him short with a tug, "Jake... They're gonna get hurt if we just leave them like this." she pointed out, feeling obligated to the guy who saved them.

Jake blinked a bit, hesitating as he remembered the look in his friends eyes. Still, no matter what they thought of him, he knew she was right. He coulden't just leave the mess he'd brought on them behind. Clutching the baton in his fist, he dashed back towards the bank, stopping in the rubble that had once been a solid wall. Glancing in, he saw Jason straining to lift the desk up off of Jess, even as the large dinosaur was shaking his head vigorously side to side, glancing around with a huff. Veggimon was pushing at the wall, apparently having managed to stick his head through the sheetrock, trying hard to extricate it.

He bent down to pick up a piece of debris, what had once been a corded phone, and without thinking chucked it at the beast. The battered plastic bounced off of his nose, just behind the base of the large creatures horn, the beast snapping his head to the side and glaring at the boy and his digimon. Veemon stood with fists balled, ready to fight the beast even as it scraped the ground and bellowed. This time as it lowered its head, Jake was ready, pivoting on one foot and dashing out of the building, rounding the corner once again.

A second later, the beast came barreling out of the narrow passageway, catching part of his stony hide on it without a care as more chunks of wall scattered into the street. Fortunately, he was going much too fast to notice that the boy he was chasing had managed to steer him directly towards a thick steel lamp post. Once again the digimon smashed headfirst into a solid barrier, his own momentum strong enough to bring his back legs off the ground as the impact bent the pole at a nearly ninety degree angle, ripping its base from the concrete in the process. Jake smirked triumphantly as the pole toppled half on top of the beast, once again stunning it. "Take that you big du-UGH!"

The thick bulb on the end of the coiled vine hit him without warning, the Veggimon toppling the boy as he dropped to his knees, eyes watering. Veemon was quick to turn, launching herself at the weed digimon, but the other vine was already ready to lash out, catching her on the cheek and knocking her aside almost effortlessly. The little blue brawler wasen't about to give up that easily though. She quickly rose to her feet and cocked back a clenched fist to launch another desperate attack at the champion even as the next viney punch slammed into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. "Bwahahaha! You diden't think a runt like you could luck out against the mighty Veggimon twice, did you?!"

The overgrown weed was way over confident, but that didn't make each pummeling attack from those heavy bulbs hurt any less. Jake recovered slowly, wincing and gripping his side as he fumbled for his dropped baton. Finally picking it up, hearing the satisfying grate of metal against asphalt, he turned, ready to race over to help his little blue friend.

However, the angry Monochromon standing between him and her had other plans. It snorted, enraged from having been diverted twice from his change. Now he was only a few feet from the boy. Nothing could stop him as he lowered he reared high up and let out a mighty bellow of triumph.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" Suddenly, brilliant lights flared into Jake's field of vision. Balls of fire rained from above, smashing into the rearing beast and turning its triumphant howl into a pained yelp. He fell backwards with a crash as several more bursts splashed right where Veggimon used to be. The plant digimon had just barely managed to dodge the attack. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to dodge the large beast it had come from.

Jake stood slack jawed in awe as he saw the golden furred canine hit the concrete, bouncing off of the plant and landing gracefully, standing with its head held high and nine tails tipped in flame flicking out behind her, sending off a shower of sparks. While it was an impressive sight in itself, Jake was more shocked by the rider straddling the beast, fists clenched in its thick mane. The boy just grinned as he raised one hand and waved ecstatically, "Heeey! You must be the new guy!"

The kid jumped off of the digimon as it turned to look at the two opponents who were making a slow recovery, padding over to nose Veemon and help her to her own feet. His hair was blond and alittle on the spiky side, though messily enough that it was probably more chance it ended up that way than anything. He stood about the same height as Jake, but a little more on the lean side, not quite wiry, but close. Wearing a pair of blue denim pants, a white undershirt, and a button up shirt that hung open in the front, and an entirely goofy grin, he jogged over and clapped Jake on the shoulder. "Man, only two of them left. I'll admit, I'm impressed!" he said jovially.

Jake was just lost and blinked at the guy as he looked past him, "I.. left? New guy? Do I know you?" he asked, lost as the mysterious duo seemed to have saved them from becoming a nasty mess in the street.

The guy just laughed and reached down, unclipping something from his belt and spinning it around one finger before holding it out like a badge, "I'm the guy that just swooped down like a great big hero and saved the day!" he said with a smug grin, obviously quite proud of himself, "But you can just call me Travis." he added with a touch of insincere modesty.

"A great big hero huh? Seems like I did all the work, Mr. Hero." the vixen pointed out, her voice smooth and calm as she walked over. Veemon's arm was thrown over her shoulder, and she was leaning heavily on the bigger mon. Now that they were nearly face to face, Jake could get a better look at the creature. She was mostly white and gold, with a thick looking mane and a sharp look of intelligence in her eyes. There were twin purple markings under each eye and a yin yang symbol on her forhead and each of her legs. It looked like fire licked out from her paws and the tip of each of her nine thick tails, which flicked through the air behind her. All in all, a pretty impressive creature.

Trevor just grinned and shook his head, "It only looked that way because- Hey look they're getting up!" he said with a point, happy for the all too convenient distraction. Despite getting the drop on the two, beating two champions with one injured rookie and his own partner was more of a gamble than any of them needed to take. Looking his Kyubimon in the eye, he nodded as his face grew serious, "I think its time for That plan..." he said solemnly.

The creature looked over her shoulder, glancing at the recovering champions, "You really think that's necessary..." she asked doubtfully. Jake and Veemon exchanged a glance, confused and lost as the two plotted.

Trevor nodded as he stepped up to stand beside his partner, digivice clipped to his side and hand reaching out to rest assuringly on the little injured rookie, "We don't have much choice..." he said, squaring his feet off and looking focused, ready for whatever came. "Plan Gamma is..." he muttered just loud enough for the others to hear.

Suddenly lifting the little blue up and tossing her over one shoulder, he turned and bolted, "..Run Away!" he shouted with a mad fit of laughter, Kyubimon turning with another flick of her tails sending a small burst of fire out towards the two disoriented champions as she wheeled and followed her partner...


	4. Chapter 4

Everything below this line is a straight copy/paste of another site I posted this story to.

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Holy cow... I went back and read the first chapters I posted and realized how much of a jerk I am for not continuing sooner. To anyone who likes this series, I apologize and hope I can keep up this newly responsible streak when it comes to this project. Feel free to let me know whatcha think of it!

I don't own digimon, but I do own a cheap laptop, a flash drive, several pens, some clothes, a lot of po...

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Chapter 04: Flee!

Jake stood dumbfounded. These two couldn't possibly be serious, could they?! However, the fact that standing here meant being left alone with two very angry, very motivated champion digimon that wanted him dead suddenly made plan Gamma sound like a pretty good idea!

The last flick of fire had temporarily blinded Veggimon and Monochromon, but it wasn't long before Veggimon was shouting and whipping the beast digimon into a blind, frenzied charge. Jake was a half dozen steps behind as they rounded the corner into an alleyway across the street. Travis was hopping up on Kyubimon's back, Veemon still over his shoulder flailing and smashing her fists against his back. "Put me down you idiot, Jake's still back there and we gotta help the people or they might get hurt and lemme go lemme go lemme go lemme go lemmego!" Travis just grinned as he turned and saw Jake catch up, offering him a hand up onto the vixen behind him. "Umm, could you ask her to stop doing that? Or at least stop doing it to me?" he asked as he winced as the little fists pounded on his back.

She blinked and calmed down, or at least stopped hitting her ride in the back, as Jake was pulled up face to face with her. Settling as best he could with nearly a dozen flaming tails at his back, he leaned forward for balance as the canine launched forward with a grunt, obviously not used to carrying quite this many people. Still, squirming resumed almost immediately as the little lizard girl flailed, "Wait, what about the nice people?!" she asked, immediately trying to crane her neck and look back over Jake's shoulder.

Travis spoke up as he looked past both of them, "Uh, I don't think we have to worry about them..." Asphalt tore under the scraping hooves as Monochromon proved him right, barreling around the corner half blindly. Veggimon was bouncing atop his enraged steed, one vine tightly grabbing the back of its head as the other jostled and waved at them, "There they are! Get Them Get Them Get Them Get Them Get Them!" he screamed as they charged. Kyubimon bolted forward, leaping several feet forward and hitting the pavement running. Jake just held onto their strange rescuer for dear life.

Up on Travis's shoulder, the little Vee blinked, staring her tamer in the eye, "Ooh... Hi Jake." She stilled a bit, before tilting her head and looking over his shoulder. The street was blurring past as the nine tailed vixen raced past a blur of storefronts. She was gaining a little more distance with each loping stride, but already the exertion of carrying three was showing on her as she began to pant heavily. Her paws skittered across the asphalt as she took a sharp turn, tails trailing behind her like a streamer following their course, and she was off again.

Jake meanwhile reached up with one arm and pulled the blue rookie off of the boy in front of him, pressing her between the two of them and giving his shoulder some relief. Travis leaned forward and seemed to whisper some kind of encouragement in his partner's ear. Jake thought he saw the vixen smirk as she sped up and took another turn.

Looking back, he could see the Monochromon charge through the corner of the building they had just rounded seconds before. Brick and mortar shrapnel burst forward on the cutting edge of his bladed horn as the beast let out a feral roar and hardly slowed, charging to the next bend they had taken. The Veggimon rider had whipped the beast into a frenzy and it wasn't slowing down for anything. A small bench aside the road they barreled down was its next victim. Jake just muttered a silent thanks for the fact that they were following THEM and had lost all thought of The Hole. By the time they thought to head back there, everyone that had lived in the hollowed out bank would be long gone.

He was jerked out of his thought and gazed forward again as this time Kyubimon turned sharply to dart down an alley way just big enough for the passenger laden vixen to fit down without grazing the walls. With a grunt of exertion, she sprang over a small dumpster that cut off half of the path. Jake smirked, thinking this would slow the beast behind them a bit. However, he let out a little yelp as they stopped on top of the old bin and Kyubimon turned, sitting down and panting softly as she just looked back towards the entrance they had come down. Surely she couldn't be thinking of fighting that thing with three people on her back?

"Hey? What's the big idea?! They're gonna catch us if we don't Goooo!" Veemon whined as she dug her heels into the vixens side, Jake blinking as he couldn't help but wonder the same. Travis on the other hand just chuckled and shook his head, "Its all part of the Plan." He said smugly.

As they heard the heavy footsteps of the champions chasing them, Jake fidgeted, "I hope this plan of yours works…" His last run-in with just one champion had earned him several bruises that STILL hurt every time he moved.

He didn't see the little flick of the champion's tail as she sent one of those dancing flames high up over their heads. The mischievous little fire seemed to have a mind of its own as it fluttered through a high window and disappeared beyond the wall's cover. This however seemed to drain the vixen of the last of her energy as she surprised them all by glowing softly and shifting back into her rookie form. Their seat literally shifting out from under them sent her three passengers stumbling backwards, Jake yelping as he fell off of the dumpster and landed on his ass rather sharply. The little Veemon stumbling back to fall on top of him didn't help much either.

As he struggled to make his lungs take in air once again. Travis and his gold furred partner stood side by side and faced the far end of the alleyway. She was still obviously fox like, but now more humanoid, standing upright on digitigrades legs, with only a single tail flicking out behind her. She retained many of her Champion features, a brilliant white mane, purple markings, and white around her footpaws. But now she had a pair of royal purple elbow length gloves that looked like some kind of thick leather covering her arms. There was also no sign of the fire from before on the tips of her tail, though the shock of white near the tip did a fairly good job making it stand out almost as well.

Jake was still recovering when their pursuers appeared at the mouth of the alley, Jake up and ready to bolt as he looked towards the other partnered pair. Both of them stood with their arms crossed, staring down their enemy as Jake stood up. He opened his mouth to ask what they were doing, when he suddenly noticed both of them tapping their feet and nodding their head in unison. Veggimon let out a triumphant guffaw as he bounced forward in front of the bigger dino digimon, also panting with exertion and barely contained rage, "Hah, too tired to run away anymore?! Or did you finally decide to face my Hundred Pummel Barrage!" he boasted, his wide mouth splitting in a triumphant laugh. "You guys are toast! We didn't even need a full quad to take down both of you! Oooh, this is too easy… When I finish with you guys yo-"

Sadly, whatever words of wisdom had been destined to follow were lost in a surprised yell as Travis and his partner both turned as one and dove at Jake and Veemon. Four bodies hit the ground directly behind the small dumpster just as the explosion turned once solid wall into dusty shrapnel. The metal canister was the only thing between their little group and a world of hurt.

Jake and Veemon were lost, ears ringing and heads throbbing from being once more tackled to the rough concrete. The dumpster had been shoved back by dozens of rocky shards slamming into its side. Jake was gasping for breath as he coughed up dust, blinking his eyes clear as he slowly pushed himself up on his elbows to a half sitting position, "What... the.. CRAP?!" was all he could manage, yelling over the ringing, pounding sounds within his skull. It took only a moment for the yellow furred rookie to get off of him, taking a knee as Travis got off of Veemon, neither of them knowing what to expect next around these two.

Looking over at Travis, the boy was grinning madly, "I totally KNEW that would work!" he said triumphantly, eagerly scrambling up to look over the edge of the metal bin. When Jake and joined him, the pair giving chase were nowhere to be seen, probably due to half of a building laying on top of where they had been when the explosion went off. Behind them the vixen pushed herself up from her kneel and grabbed her head with one hand, rubbing at ears laid tightly back against her skull. "Yes, because when all else fails, drop your hideout on them... that always works." She grumbled.

As Travis sat up and dusted himself off, he still grinned smugly, "See? I knew you'd agree with me Renamon." he said with a triumphant nod. His partner just groaned at the missed sarcasm. Jake on the other hand, shuffled over on hands and knees to his own partner, "Hey... you okay?" he asked with concern as he helped sit her up right.

"Oooh, pretty colors..." she mumbled as she shook her head and tried to rub the sunbursts from her eyes, before blinking and looking around, "Umm... Did we just drop a building on them?" she asked with a tilt of her head as she looked over the small mountain of dust and rubble. Her partner just chuckled as Travis turned around and grinned brilliantly, "Awesome, huh? Apparently if you get enough fireworks, ammunition, a few gallons of gas, some bags from an old hardware store that say 'Danger: Highly Flammable' together in one place, you can make a lovely little deterrent." He smirked and put both hands on his hips, thrusting his chest out and looking more ridiculous than heroic as he gazed over his handiwork, "Hah! Took care of them, didn't we?"

Renamon was brushing a thick, persistent layer of dust off of her fur as she glanced at the rubble, "If it were that easy, digimon would be in trouble." As if to emphasize her point, a few of the lighter rocks began to bound down the pile and roll as the larger portions of wall began to shift slowly, before settling.

Travis blinked and groaned, "You mean it didn't work?! Come on! We dropped a freaking BUILDING on them!" he complained as he slumped forward dramatically. His partner just rolled her eyes as she stood straight, her tail flicking sharply out to one side, "It slowed them down for awhile... I suggest we use that time to get as far away as we can."  
And with that, their little group was off...

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Jake looked around the end of the wrecked truck, leaning heavily against it as he kept an eye on the small swarm of rookie and champion digimon. Practically at his hip, Veemon strained to look around both him and the truck, before sitting back when he did. On the other end, Travis was looking at him expectantly while his own partner sat patiently with arms crossed and eyes closed.

"Well?" Travis asked with an expectant grin. He was bouncing a few fire crackers he'd kept separate from the rest in one of his palms and a lighter was squeezed in the other.

The plan was pretty simple. Word was bound to get back, quickly, about him escaping the attack that had taken place at the bank. So far, there were no signs of any of the other digimon moving towards the commotion, but once Veggimon and Monochromon got free, that was the first place they were likely to go looking for Jake and Veemon.

The people at The Hole were already getting ready to move out, but he knew that between injuries and finding somewhere to go, they would need some time. And the best way to give them that was to grab the attention of as many digimon as possible and leave them with no doubt the direction he was heading.

The majority of the monsters in this town had taken residence in the shops and hotels near the train station. They had even come up with a way to ship things in or out using the beast type champions to pull train cars along the tracks. Even now, they were harnessing a Monochromon to the front of a pair of train cars, getting ready to send some of the supplies they'd rummaged from this town out, presumably in exchange for some from another town.

Jake sighed and shook his head, even though inside he was tingling with excitement, "I still can't believe we're doing this." He looked up, saw the heavy waist harness going into place while the carts were loaded with supplies. The trick to their little plan was that once the beast was harnessed, it couldn't get itself free without help, and since the train was on rails, it was pretty much limited to 'Go Forward' and 'Stop'. So, the short and simple was that Jake and Veemon run distraction, while Travis and Renamon 'convinced' the beast of burden that 'Go' would be a better option than 'Stop'.

Travis grinned and nodded, "I know! Riling them all up at once, and then stealing everything they have to boot! This is gonna be GREAT!" he said with as much excitement as he could get into the hushed whisper. Renamon had remained silent and was resting, even though her tail flicked back and forth behind her in excitement, nerves, or agitation. It was hard to tell. Jake wasn't exactly fluent in Digimon body language. Either way, she'd made it very clear that she wouldn't be able to carry all of them again anytime soon when they came up with the plan, so they had to improvise.

Jake sighed and looked to Veemon, who was glancing around a bit nervously, "So... Do you really think this is gonna w-"

"Too late!" Travis said with a smirk as he held one of the lit firecrackers and tossed it over the truck, "That's your queue! Good luck!" he said, he and Renamon slinking around the front of the damaged vehicle even as Jake and Veemon threw one another a startled glance, and then burst out from behind their cover just as a series of pops got every monsters attention in the station, all commotion coming to a halt.

Jake stood there with his baton out in one hand and Veemon standing with fists up at the other as two dozen pairs of eyes leveled on them, "Uh... Vee?" he asked without looking down at her.

"Yeah Jake?" Her eyes were equally locked forward

"This was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

"...Yeah."

It was at that moment a little yellow bug digimon that looked like a caterpillar with black lightning bolts for eyes hopped forward, "GET EM!" he yelled in a surprisingly booming voice, breaking the stunned silence as the wave of rookies and more charged forward with a yell.

Jake and Veemon didn't bother trying to hold their ground or act any sort of particular plan out. Both immediately just did the only thing that made sense. Run like there was no tomorrow in the opposite direction! Bolts of electricity and balls of fire burst against the concrete behind them as they rounded the corner and dodged into an old textile factory, yelping at every near miss as they did. They'd already planned out a route through the pile of old, broken machines and discarded racks and it didn't take them long to pull a half dozen obstacles down in their path as they bolted further down the street. A roar of angry screams and curses followed them as their obstacles were blasted or bludgeoned out of the way, leaving the two of them to burst into the next building over, some sort of shipping depot.

"Hey, you can't turn into some kind of giant lizard mount thing like Renamon does by chance, can you?" Jake asked hopefully as they tossed a spare firework into a pile of dried cardboard boxes near the door they came through. Veemon just glared at him as they dove over a conveyer belt and scrambled under one as several pops later there was a sizable blaze between them and their pursuers. "No more than you can I'm afraid." she shot back as they heard digimon scrambling through the fire trying to clear their eyes and see where their pray went. They paused at the docking door they'd planned to go through just long enough to be spotted, before jumping down as sounds of destruction rained behind them.

Jake grasped the last of the fireworks Travis had given him, tied off to a hammer he'd found near the truck that had served as their planning base. Lighting it he looked to the Vee, who just nodded as he turned and threw it as hard as he could across the street, away from the station, in the direction they probably would have fled. The hammer gave it plenty of heft and it sailed nicely before bouncing on the hood of a defunct car and clattering behind it.

Veemon and Jake didn't stick around for the show, instead turning the other direction and running crouched along the building to round the corner back towards its front side. They heard the squeal of the firework going off and several digimon scream about going after it as they carefully crossed the street back towards the station. If this worked, they wouldn't have to hold them off long...

Back in the station they stepped over the fuzzing form of a Kunemon, just before he burst into data spheres. Veemon winced at this, but said nothing as they rushed towards the train carts. Travis and Renamon stuck their heads out and waved them over, "We did it! There should only be one car behind him now." the boy exclaimed with a smug grin, holding out a hand full of connecting pins.

Jake just nodded as he looked at Renamon, "Alright, you're up!" he said, the vixen just nodding as the four of them crawled on top of the foremost train car. The single Monochromon strapped to the front of the train wasn't the same one they had encountered back at The Hole, but Jake was still nervous as Renamon stepped out in front of them, standing at the front of the train and crossing her arms.

The big champion had just enough time to struggle to look over his shoulder as he realized something was wrong before he heard her mutter smoothly, "Diamond Storm~". With that the vixen uncrossed her arms, opening her eyes as a wide spread of energy crystallized in front of her, dozens of little shards suddenly raining down on the champions flank, each stabbing into it and detonating in a microburst against its flank. The beast roared in pain and shock, suddenly lunging forward to try and escape the stinging attack in the only direction its harness would allow. Jake, Travis and Veemon all staggered as the ground beneath them lurched forward immediately, far faster than they expected! These beasts were capable of pulling ten or more cars behind them. With only one, they were already off like a bullet, zipping forward along the tracks as the train rattled loudly and the Champion pulling it roared.

Renamon never lost her balance as she held up one paw and crystallized several shards between her fingers like some kind of knives, "Diamond Shards!" she hissed as she chucked them at the beasts flank. Soon it was blindly charging along, barreling away from the station as the two humans and the little blue rookie all looked at each other, beginning to nervously laugh in excitement, Veemon the first to speak up, "I can't believe this actually worked!" she exclaimed with glee. Jake nodded along with her, slumping down to sit with his legs splayed out in equal disbelief. "I know, ri-ugh!"

All three of them rocked as the train car they were on was jolted. Jake scrambled forward onto his feet between Veemon and Travis as they all turned to face the new threat that had caught up with them. The digimon before them stood, pale pinkish fur rustling slightly in the breeze as she lowered her gaze through the armored helmet, "You all have been quite a problem it seems." she said calmly, curling fingerless gloves into fists as she sunk into a ready stance, "I, Lekismon, will have to become the solution!" the rabbit champion said, lunging forward with a jab at the human in the center!

Fortunately Veemon was quick to react, launching herself forward and slamming her head into the bunnies' midsection, just below the armored breastplate it wore, knocking her back slightly though she retained her footing. The two digimon stared one another down, both with fists raised as they glared. Jake quickly glanced at Travis, who held his hands up helplessly, and then at Renamon, who narrowed her eyes back at him and nodded along the tracks they were leaving behind. A quick glance showed the crowd he'd attracted was desperately trying to catch up with their little getaway train and that if she stopped egging on their ride, they'd soon be overtaken... as it was they were gaining precious ground and speed, but she had to keep it up with a regular stream of shards.

Jake stood up and stepped beside his partner, breathing a sigh and holding his baton out to one side, tightly squeezing the steel rod as Veemon just nodded. "Ready?" she asked without moving her gaze. Jake nodded and prepared himself, "Yeah..."

With that, the champion lunged.

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Alrighty! More action! Hopefully a few chuckles! And an escape... TOOO ADVENTUUUURRREEEE!

...Yeah, I'll confess by the way that I've been sitting on the first half of this chapter for about a year without touching it, because I'm a terrible person. Here's to a better year this year!


	5. Chapter 5

Last chapter I had in reserve. Man, seeing past-me on a roll like this makes current me a bit jealous. Fortunately I have something now that I didn't then! NOTES! Next bit of story is already lined out, now I just need to crack the whip (on myself) to get the actual writing part done. Yeah, we'll see how that goes...

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Yey! On a bit of a roll it seems! Wrapping up a big cliffhanger battle scene and segueing into a backstory chapter! Yey backstory! Because I know you're all terribly interested! But thats for next time. For now, CANDY! And trauma. Which is not as good as candy...

I don't own Digimon, but Myotismon does. He won't share, I asked.

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Chapter 05: Freedom

Jake was ready for the creatures frontal assault, reacting almost immediately to swing the steel rod in his hand out in a wide arc in front of it to try and catch the much faster creature they faced off guard. Unfortunately, what he wasn't ready for was that the lunge would be straight upward instead of at them head on. He ended up swinging wild and connecting only with air, staggering forward slightly as he blinked at where the bunny warrior had been.

"Up there!" Veemon's eyes were still locked on the champion form as she came back down from the powerful leap, her heel raised high in front of her and dropping with astounding speed. "Moon Night Kick!" she called out, her heel crashing down right where Veemon would have been if she hadn't hopped backwards. Jake faltered at the size of the dent her clawed foot left in the steel roof of the car as the bunny crouched and launched forward, bringing another rapid kick around to stagger Veemon through her quick block. Jake leapt forward and swung once again at the rabbit, but she almost instinctively leaned out of the clumsy overhead slash and brought one gloved fist back around, sending Jake's vision swirling as she refocused her attention on the little blue digimon.

Veemon panted and raised both fists again, even though one throbbed from the kick she'd blocked. This champion was way stronger than her and faster too. They had to do something and quick. Jake was already out of it though and she was steadily being backed towards the front of the train. Growling she steadied herself, bending her own knees and launching herself forward in a desperate attack, "Vee HEADBUTT!" she cried out, leaping forward with as much force as she could muster.

Lekismon however was prepared for just such an attack it seemed, leaping herself into the air and kicking downwards. The rookie, completely vested in the overreaching assault skipped across the roof of the train, disappearing over the edge just as the lunar knight landed gracefully between Jake and his now missing partner.

"VEEMON!" Jake lunged forward, trying to dive past the champion to help the brave little rookie, before pain burst from his back and he found himself pinned to cold steel by a foot in the small of his back. Lekismon dug her heel into his back, drawing grunts of pain from the boy as he reached out fruitlessly towards the far edge.

Jake never even heard the high squeal emitting from his hip pocket, never saw the blinding light bursting from the screen of the tiny, forgotten device hidden there. What he DID notice was the ball of brilliant glowing light that burst over the edge of the train, shining like a blue star before him as it settled onto cold steel and a voice rang out from it, shocking him and eliciting a scowl from the champion above him as she leapt back several feet.

"Veemon: Digivolve too..." Her voice dragged out as the light intensified, Jakes eyes unable to focus on it before it began to stretch and solidify, before snapping out of existence and leaving in its place something entirely new, and yet all too familiar. "Flamedramon!"

The voice that cut through the air was every bit as different from the little rookie as the warrior now standing in front of him. Where once she had been short, potbellied, and mischievous, now the creature standing before him was easily his height or taller. Gone was the little potbellied brawler build, replaced with slender, athletically muscled dragoness. Claws jutted from the armor covering her feet and the gauntlets gripped in her hands, and blue flame designs decorated the armor and weapons covering her form. The flames seemed almost alive as they glowed and pulsed with hidden energy, and the blades on her hands, feet, and the smaller nose blade shined in the setting sun. All in all, it was an impressive sight to behold as she stood on one side of the downed boy, staring down the champion on the other. The playing field had been leveled.

Lekismon scowled as she sunk into a more serious fighting stance, glaring at her new opponent, "Humph, seems I forgot the basic rule." she growled, locking eyes with the dragoness and lowering her voice, "Target the humans first!" she cried as she raised one foot to bring a devastating heel kick down to finish Jake off. However she was not quite fast enough for her new enemy, Flamedramon crouching over him, one clawed gauntlet catching the leg deftly and hurling the bunny back with surprising strength. The lunar knight just barely recovered before falling off of the train herself.

Flamedramon didn't give the rabbit time to recover, leaning back and leveling one outstretched gauntlet at her, the other resting near her elbow as the glowing flame design intensified. "Fire Fist!" The glowing lines around the edges of her gauntlets design suddenly seemed to focus towards the bladed claws, a swirling orb of flame materializing and launching itself forward with a squeal, even as a second formed right behind it. Lekismon leapt high into the air to dodge the first blast, jerking her body into a forced twist out of the path of the second. However, even the agile enemy wasn't quite swift enough to escape the third. The ball detonated right between the rabbits shoulder blades, her scream filling the evening air as she was launched far backwards, well beyond the edge of the train.

Jake managed to pull himself upright just in time to see the champions body hit the dirt just outside of town, sending up an obscuring cloud of dust. There was no telling if she'd been deleted or simply gotten rid of, but either way the threat was ended. He blinked at the line of buildings receding away from them, not realizing just how far they'd come in the midst of their battle. Slowly he got to his knees and looked along the tracks behind them, seeing the crowd of angry digimon had fallen much too far behind to be at risk of catching up. Looking to the front of the train he saw Renamon kneeling, her tail limp against the train and her ears laid back, with Travis beside her as she panted, exhausted from launching a steady stream of attacks to egg their ride on. The Monochromon, conceding its defeat, was moving along at a swift, steady clip along its familiar tracks.

Finally he turned his gaze to his partner, a grin forming as he stepped up behind her, resting a hand on the tall dragon warriors shoulder, "That was amazing!" he praised in earnest, stepping up beside her and chuckling, "I didn't know you had it... in... you." He blinked as he realized something was wrong, his partners shoulder trembling under the leather armor that hugged her upper body. Finally she lurched slightly forward to her knees, the gauntlets falling from her hands, revealing long, slender, humanoid fingers and thumbs, each tipped with a tiny rounded claw. Each of them was also trembling uncontrollably. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently, dropping down and reaching out, one hand on either shoulder as his elation turned to worry.

She just shivered as she sat there staring at her hands, her form and was silent for several long minutes, "N-no... why... Why did I have to end up like this... again?" she shuddered and bent in the middle, her hands resting on the cool metal surface at last as she let out a sob and said nothing more, her body limp against Jake's as he sat holding her, unsure of what to do. A glance up at Travis earned him another helpless shrug before the boy turned back to his own exhausted partner. And so, doing the only thing he could think to, Jake wrapped one arm more snugly around the girls shoulder as he held her to his side in silence.

=================

It had taken awhile for his partner to calm down, but eventually she'd exhausted herself in whatever personal hell she was going through and slumped against the human, sleeping fitfully for several minutes against him. Jake did his best to ignore the four inch blade coming off the nose of her mask that was positioned perilously close to his cheek. Fortunately he didn't have to deal with it for too long before, with a sleepy sigh, the girl began to glow softly in his arms and shrink down once more. Gone was the armored warrior, once again replaced with a familiar little blue and white form, her cheek resting on his kneeling leg as she seemed to sleep more peacefully now.

Travis came over moments later and offered him a hand up, Jake accepting gratefully. Even though he'd lifted Veemon up to his side and could hold her cradled against him in one arms, he didn't trust his sleeping legs on top of a moving train. Renamon joined the three of them moments later, looking recovered from her 'motivational marathon' of attacks. "Come on," Travis recommended at last, "Lets get inside and see if we can't make ourselves a bit more comfortable."

After a fairly unsteady climb down the outer ladder onto the back platform, they opened the door to the darkened car. Renamon stepped inside first, a pair of glowing crystals forming between her fingers letting her quickly find the latches for the window covers, opening them up and letting a bit more moonlight flood into the room. Jake blinked and grinned as Travis stepped forward and beamed happily, "Oooh, Do we know how to pick 'em, or what?" he asked smugly.

Filling more than two thirds of the train car were boxes stacked floor to ceiling of different shapes and sizes, and well over half of them read 'Food' clearly on the side facing out in either claw marks or clumsy paint. From inside the piles somewhere they could also hear the telltale rattling of dozens of glass bottles jostling and moving in transit, so some kind of drinks were also guaranteed. The last third of the car was cleared and had a padded bench, presumably for whatever 'mon they had planned on driving the Monochromon onwards. If Veggimons treatment of the one back in the city was any indication, then their way of 'motivating' their ride was probably not too far outside the norm for these guys.

Jake slowly knelt down by the bench to let Veemon lay out, the girl stirring only slightly and turning towards the back of the seat to curl into a tighter ball before returning to deep slumber. Turning around and standing up, he saw Renamon had taken a position by one of the windows, leaning back against the wall and standing on one foot, the other braced against the wall behind her. With her gauntleted arms folded and her eyes closed, she looked like some kind of guard or bouncer. Bored, but ready in case that changed. Travis meanwhile was pulling down the first box of food and doing his best to pry the lid off of it. Jake smirked as he stepped and gave the guy a hand, the both of them grunting as they yanked the top free, staring down at their stolen treasure with a look of triumph.

Inside this particular box were stacks of candy bars, entire boxes of different types all piled on top of each other, while half of the box was filled with bags upon bags of chips, gummies, mixed nuts, and jerky. "Oh man, this was the best plan EVER!" Trevor said, immediately swiping a bag of chips and tearing it open, biting into one with a satisfying crunch, "We could hide out with this stuff for years!" he said pointed out. Reaching in to grab another bag, this one some kind of party mix, and tossing it casually towards Renamon. Despite seeming uninterested and having her eyes closed, the vixen managed to raise one paw in time to deftly snatch the packet from the air, tearing off a small corner and pulling out a pretzel stick to nibble on slowly.

Jake smiled and nodded as he looked around and listened while they helped themselves. Eventually tracking down one of the boxes marked for Drinks, he managed to open it on his own, finding an assortment of canned sodas of all types and flavors. Grinning he lifted up a familiar blue can with red markings on it and cracked it open, taking a sip of his favorite brand for the first time in months, savoring the room temperature cola blissfully for a moment, before handing offering some up to the others. Settling in, they could finally breathe a collective sigh of peace and relaxation for the first time in what felt like forever. Looking back, it was hard for Jake to believe that so much had happened since this morning.

It wasn't too long before Travis was slumped against a wall of boxes, "I'm gonna die~" he grumbled as he held his stomach. A half dozen candy bar wrappers of different types all lay around him, victims of his eyes overestimation of his stomach. A pair of sugary drinks, one of which had been half spilled in the carnage of the candies destruction only added to the stomach ache he was suffering from. Jake chuckled as he saw the boys partner smirk knowingly from where she stood, the same packet she'd started on folded neatly in half and laying on the windowsill beside her. Jake had polished off a small bag of chips and a single candy bar before he was stuffed, and was sipping on the last of his sweet cola. Now he was content just to enjoy the cool night air blowing through the windows. The only thing keeping his hair back from annoyingly brushing his eyes were the glasses hugging the top of his head.

That thought made him pause, thinking back on Jess and the rest of the people back at The Hole. He flashed back to the pained look on her face as she was pinned under the desk, knowing it was his fault it had happened to her... He hoped she was okay, but there wasn't much else he could do for her without causing more trouble. The best thing he could do was just to move on...

"So," he asked, finally looking up between Renamon and Travis, who had gone from slumped backwards to half way on his side against the boxes in the throes of his fatal tummy ache. "Now that we've got some free time finally, what's your story?" he asked, curious to know a little more about the duo that had literally dropped out of the sky and into his life.

Travis immediately sat upright, his stomach pains forgotten as he shrugged and stretched his arms over his head, "Oooh, not too much to tell. I spent a lot of time running and hiding and finding cool things to occupy myself with after the world ended... You know, like everyone else did." he said casually, before grinning, "But wandering around by myself got kinda boring after awhile, and I figured since they talked, maybe I could get a Digimon to wander around with me! I'd show them all kinds of interesting things in our world, and they'd keep me from being dead. I thought it was a fair trade." he said with a smug grin.

Jake blinked at him, dropping his thankfully empty can as he heard the last bit. "And... that actually worked?!" he asked incredulously, turning to look at Renamon, "He just waltzed up to you and asked to be friends?"

She smirked a bit as Travis scratched the back of his head, "Well, er... not exactly." he admitted, "You see, I was kinda at the end of my rope and figured anything was worth a shot, but apparently the Gazimon I asked decided it was a much better idea to take a shot AT me than on spending more than five seconds around me." He chuckled as he laced his fingers behind his head and stretched his legs out a bit further in front of him, "I didn't think those rabbit guys could run that fast! And after I even gave him those cool shades too!" he looked indignant.

Renamon uncrossed her arms and lifted a juice box she'd swiped at some point to her lips, before shaking her head, "I happened to be close by when I saw the idiot take off running into a dead in alley with lightning on his heels." she shook her head slowly and sighed, "He looked like a kicked Salamon. I couldn't just let him die." she said with a shrug before crossing her arms once more. Jake grinned a bit. That was the most he'd heard the fox digimon speak at one time. She looked mildly annoyed, but it was obviously a good memory for her too.

Travis grinned as he nodded, "It was perfect! She kept me from being dead without me even having to ask! Took a bit of climbing to get up on the roof and keep up with her when she wandered off, but it was tootally worth it!" he said, reaching down and unclipping the device from his hip once more, holding it out proudly.

Jake blinked at it, realizing it was the same as the one he'd gotten back at the Hole when he'd talked with Veemon for the first time. "Oh hey, I have one of those things I think..." He absently dug through a couple pockets on his vest, before finally pulling his own out and looking at it.

Travis laughed, "Of course you do! All partners have a Digivice." he said as if it should be obvious. Then he blinked as he looked at the boy across from him in surprise, "You... Don't know, do you?" he asked incredulously.

Jake just blinked as he put the device into his lap, "Obviously I'm missing something... Partners? Digivices? I'm lost." he admitted, looking over to his little blue friend, still curled up on the bench. He pretty well guessed she was his partner, but beyond that, this was all something of a mystery to him.

Travis looked at Renamon, who was once again resting with her arms crossed and eyes closed. With a sigh the other boy just sat back and started to speak, "Lets start at the beginning..."

* * *

Why is the poor Veemon freaking out at her own form? How does Travis know more about Digivices than Jake? Just how common are human-digimon bonds in this post-apocalyptic world? How the hell did that guy bounce back from a stomach ache soo quickly?! Why am I talking to myself at the beginning and end of each chapter?

EDIT: Soo, had to reupload this because I'm an idiot and forgot to spell and grammar check it before uploading. Soo... yeeaaah...


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